JPS6148068B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a temperature control device for a refrigerator.

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the main parts of a conventional 1-fan, 1-cooler, 2-temperature refrigerator-freezer.
2 is an outer box, and 2 is an inner partition, which separates a freezer compartment 3 and a refrigerator 4. 5 is a cooler, 6 is an internal stirring fan (the electric motor is not shown), and 7 is a partition plate installed at the back of the freezer compartment that separates the freezer compartment 3 from the storage area of the cooler 5; is a cold air outlet,
It has a cold air inlet at the bottom. 8 passes through the back wall of the outer box 1 from the upper part of the back of the cooler storage part to the refrigerator compartment 4.
The refrigerating compartment side outlet 9 is opened and closed by a damper 11 driven by a damper thermostat 10 installed at the upper rear side of the refrigerating compartment 4. 12 is a refrigerating room side air suction duct provided inside the partition 2.

FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram for explaining the operation of a conventional refrigerator, in which 13 is the power supply of the refrigerator, 14 is a temperature regulator that turns on and off by sensing the temperature of the freezer compartment, and 15
6 is a compression motor that compresses the refrigerant, and 6 is a fan for stirring inside the refrigerator.

In the conventional refrigerator configured as described above, when the compression electric motor 15 is operated, the cooler 5 is cooled by a refrigerant cycle (not shown), and the cold air passing through the cooler 5 is cooled by the internal stirring fan 6. is forcedly circulated within the freezer compartment 3 to cool the freezer compartment 3. Further, a part of this cold air reaches the refrigerator compartment 4 via the duct 8 and is forcedly circulated in the air path returning to the cooler 5 via the suction duct 12, thereby cooling the refrigerator compartment 4 at the same time. The freezer compartment 3 is operated by a compression motor 15 and an internal stirring fan 6 to maintain the temperature at around -18°C by a temperature controller 14 that detects the freezer compartment temperature and turns it on and off.
In addition, the refrigerator compartment 4 is controlled by sensing the temperature of the refrigerator compartment and adjusting the air volume to about 3° C. using a damper thermometer 10 that opens and closes a damper 11.

However, in the refrigerator configured as described above, the storage compartment can only be cooled while the compression motor 15 and the internal stirring fan 6 are operating. Therefore, if you raise the freezing temperature to, say, -12℃ when storing frozen food for only a short time or to reduce power consumption, the amount of heat leaking from the freezer compartment will decrease by the amount of temperature rise. ,
Naturally, the operating rates of the compression electric motor 15 and the internal stirring fan 6 are lower than when the temperature of the freezer compartment was maintained at -18°C. Therefore, the cooling capacity of the refrigerator compartment 4 decreases due to the decrease in forced circulation time of cold air and the increase in cold air temperature due to the rise in temperature in the freezer compartment. The disadvantage was that the temperature of the freezer compartment could only be adjusted within a range of 3 to 4 degrees Celsius because the temperature could not be maintained and the temperature rose several degrees.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to obtain a refrigerator that can maintain a constant temperature in the refrigerator compartment even if the setting range of the temperature in the freezer compartment is wide, such as 7 to 8°C.

Hereinafter, a temperature control device for a refrigerator according to the present invention will be explained using the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a temperature control device for a refrigerator according to the present invention. In the figure, 16 is a group of input devices, and a temperature detection device that detects the temperature of the freezer compartment and converts it into an appropriate electrical signal. It consists of a container 16a, a temperature setting device 16b for setting the temperature of the freezer compartment, and the like. 1
7 is a computer that takes in information from each input device group 16 and makes calculation decisions based on the taken in information. The computer 17 is generally a digital computer, and includes an analog-to-digital converter and the like for converting electrical signals from the input device group 16 into signals that can be easily handled within the computer.
Reference numeral 18 denotes a group of operation relays that operate based on the judgment results of the computer 17, and include a compression motor on/off relay 18a for maintaining the temperature of the freezer compartment at a set value, a fan relay 18b for stirring the refrigerator compartment, and a defrost heater on/off relay 18a. It consists of a cut-off relay 18c and the like. Operation relay group 1
8 operates electrically according to the output of the computer 17.

Next, the operation of the circuit with the above configuration will be explained using the graph shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, line A represents the temperature inside the refrigerator compartment 4, and line B represents the set temperature of the freezer compartment 3.

As is clear from the graph in FIG. 4, when the set temperature of the freezer compartment 3 is, for example, -15°C or lower, as shown at point A, the output signal of the freezer compartment temperature detector 16a is By inputting data into the computer 17, predetermined calculation processing is performed, and the calculation results are output to the compression motor on/off relay 18a and the internal stirring fan relay 18b.
If the compression electric motor 15 and the internal stirring fan 6 are started and stopped at the same time, the temperature inside the refrigerator compartment 4 can be kept constant regardless of changes in the freezing compartment temperature setting, as shown by line A in FIG. drooping

Also, the temperature setting device 16b controls the set temperature of the freezer compartment 3.
For example, −12
℃, in a conventional refrigerator, the temperature inside the refrigerator compartment 4 changes to 3℃ or more as shown by the broken line, but in the embodiment of the present invention,
When the computer 17 receives the output signal from the temperature setting device 16b, a certain set value (for example -
Based on this, the compression electric motor 15 and the internal stirring fan 6 are driven to perform cooling operation, and the temperature detector 16c is also activated.
When the computer 17 detects that the temperature of the freezer compartment has reached -12°C, the computer 17 activates the motor on/off relay 18a.
is deenergized to stop the compression motor 15. Then, even after the compression motor 15 has stopped operating, the refrigerator stirring fan 6 is controlled to continue to operate for about 2% of the time when the compression motor 15 has stopped operating, for example, for 6 minutes. If the forced circulation time of the cold air is increased to compensate for the decrease in the cooling capacity of the refrigerator compartment, the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 4 will remain constant as shown by line A, and even if the temperature of the freezer compartment is set to -12°C, the refrigerator will not be refrigerated. It is possible to suppress the rise in room temperature.

In addition, in the above explanation, the operating time of the internal stirring fan after the compression motor is stopped is fixed, but the operating time of the internal stirring fan is changed as appropriate in proportion to the increase in the set value of the freezer compartment temperature B. It goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained by controlling the length of time to be longer.

As explained above, only when the freezer compartment set temperature is set higher than a certain value, the freezer compartment temperature B
By continuing to operate the internal stirring fan for several minutes even after the compression motor has stopped operating, it is possible to increase the set value of the freezer compartment temperature B while keeping the refrigerator compartment temperature A constant. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the main parts of a refrigerator compartment, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing the main parts for explaining the operation of a conventional refrigerator, and FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the freezer compartment temperature set value and the freezing compartment and refrigerator compartment temperatures. 16a... Input device group, 17... Microcomputer, 18... Operation relay group, A... Refrigerator room temperature, B... Freezer room temperature. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a 1-fan, 1-cooler type refrigerator-freezer that turns the compression motor on and off depending on the temperature of the freezer compartment and controls the temperature of the refrigerator compartment using a damper thermometer, when the set temperature of the freezer compartment is set below a certain set value, the compression When the freezing room temperature is set higher than the above set value, the compression motor is started and stopped at the same time when the freezing room temperature reaches the higher set temperature. A temperature control device for a refrigerator, comprising a control means for causing the internal stirring fan to continue operating for a predetermined period of time even after it has been stopped.